Millennial Lithium encounters high-grade lithium at Pastos Grandes

Millennial Lithium (ML.V) is still drilling at its Pastos Grandes salar in Argentina’s Salta province and whereas we were happy to see the company being able to replicate the historical assay results at around 380-420 mg/l, a new, deeper hole has created some new excitement.

Hole 5C was drilled to a final depth of just over 600 meters, and encountered a stunning 211 meters at an average grade of 545 mg/l (from 382m to 593m down-hole) on top of a shallower interval of 33 meters at 523 mg/t starting at just 27.5 meters from surface.

Needless to say the assay results from the new hole are very exciting as the lithium grade is higher than expected whilst the thickness of the mineralized zone is impressive as well. On top of that, it does confirm the depth of the Pastos Grandes brine could extend to at least 600 meters (this was the maximum capacity of the drill rig). This could add a lot of tonnes and cubic meters to the total size of the lithium-bearing zones, and Millennial Lithium now seems to be confident enough to go ahead with the resource calculation. Previously, newly-appointed CEO Farhad Abasov told us in a phone call Millennial would only go ahead with a resource calculation if a total lithium carbonate (equivalent) content of 1-1.5 million tonnes could be shown.

As Millennial is now targeting a maiden resource estimate by the end of this quarter or early quarter, there now is a very clear indication the new hole has confirmed Millennial Lithium’s Pastos Grandes project will be indeed large enough to become a mine one day as the grade is definitely high enough, and the magnesium/lithium ratio remains acceptable at 6-6.8 (the lower the ratio, the better).